Norton AntiVirus 11 Adds Leopard Support, 'Vulnerability Protection'

Symantec this week released a full-version update to its Norton AntiVirus suite for Mac OS X. The latest version incorporates support for Mac OS X ("Leopard") and adds a new feature called "Vulnerability Protection," which is designed to guard against infections from applications connected to the Internet. The company has also updates its Norton Confidential for Mac to support Leopard.

While Macs are largely unaffected by viruses (for the simple reason that few virus developers go out of their way to write viruses for the Mac), they can be carriers of infections that can be passed on to Windows-based PCs, as would be the case with, say, a Word macro virus. Norton AntiVirus for Mac is designed to detect viruses and other malware automatically and remove them from hard drives and e-mail attachments.

The new version 11 expands protection from the previous year-ago release to include signature-based protection for applications connected to the Internet to block malware when users download images, audio files, and other software. It also includes:

Inclusive scanning to detect and remove viruses in e-mail and other, similar applications;

Improved performance;

Automatic updates in the background;

A new user interface and "less intrusive" alerts; and

A new command-line interface for running scan via scripts through Terminal.

Norton AntiVirus 11 for Mac is available now for $49.95 and includes a one-year subscription to Symantec’s protection updates. Norton Confidential for Mac, which provides privacy features for online banking and the like, has also been updated to support Mac OS X Leopard and is available now for $49.99.

David Nagel is editorial director, education for 1105 Media's Public Sector Media Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal. A 22-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.